“It will be in the low teens,” Chief Executive Officer
Ambrose So said in an interview in Beijing. “We have a bigger
base, so low teens is still very good.”

Macau’s casino revenue growth slowed to 14 percent last
year from 42 percent in 2011, as the local government limited
casino table additions in the only place in China where they’re
legal. High-stakes gamblers from the mainland are curbing
spending after a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy
last year, according to Leon Liao, a Hong Kong-based analyst at
Jefferies Hong Kong Ltd.

“Overall, the economy is not improving and we don’t see
demand on the VIP side recovering from last year,” said Liao.
“The government is putting in more anti-corruption measures in
mainland China and this is also a big risk.”

Gross gambling revenue expansion for the first two months
at about 9 percent lags behind the consensus 13 percent growth
estimate for 2013, Jefferies analysts led by Liao wrote.

China’s services industries last month expanded at the
slowest pace since September, according to a March 3 report,
adding to concerns that China’s rebound from a seven-quarter
slowdown is losing steam.

The VIP, or high-rollers, business accounts for about two-thirds of casino revenue in Macau. MGM China Holdings Ltd., the
Macau casino venture between a daughter of gambling mogul
Stanley Ho and MGM Resorts International, said Feb. 27 it hasn’t
seen any sign of a Chinese crackdown on the junket operators who
offer credit and bring VIP gamblers to Macau.

Intensifying Competition

SJM, founded by Ho, owns 20 of the 35 casinos in Macau,
including its flagship Grand Lisboa in Macau peninsula. It faces
intensifying competition as rivals including Sands China Ltd.
and Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. expand in the former
Portuguese colony.

Sands earlier said it plans to invest at least $2.5 billion
to build the Parisian, its fifth resort in Macau. The Parisian
will have a replica of the Eiffel Tower and facilities to
attract gamblers from China traveling with their families.

Smaller competitors such as Wynn Macau Ltd. and MGM China
have also been given approval to develop casinos in Macau’s
Cotai strip, an Asian equivalent of Las Vegas strip.

SJM, which won a land grant in October to develop its first
casino resort in the Cotai area, is still awaiting the formal
approval from Macau government to begin construction.

Gambling on the Las Vegas Strip increased 13 percent in
December to $588.2 million, according to the Nevada Gaming
Control Board. That marked an acceleration from previous months,
with revenue from July to year-end advancing 5.1 percent, the
agency said.